ELECTION 2016: Hahahahaha!

Well…I was absolutely wrong in 90 per cent of my predictions – and that is OK.

Well-played to Donald Trump. He won fair and square, and impressively. The Republican party (what is left of it) won handily throughout the country.

Fundamentally, I do think this is a big middle finger to the Democrats and their agenda as well as the American intelligentsia. They had a good go for 8 years with President Obama, but he failed. For all the hubris, his grand hopes of being a transformative president like Ronald Regan is in taters.

I tend to be on the right side of the political spectrum so there is no love lost in seeing the Democrat’s agenda fail, and most importantly, to see Hillary Clinton (and the Clinton brand) finally put to rest. That is good news from my perspective.

However, I still have serious doubts about what President Trump will achieve although I remain hopeful it is something better. As long as Trump does not screw things up or shake the boat too much, then things will be OK. I can settle for OK – nothing bad, nothing good, just OK.

Make no mistake though – I am not 100 per cent behind Donald Trump, more like 15 per cent. There is a lot about the man personally I do not like (although, to be fair, I do not know him personally) and plenty of his remarks leave me embarrassed (schadenfreude!).

I felt the same way about Barack Obama, but he was dutifully elected and I gave him the benefit of doubt – a chance to see what he could accomplish. However, from my political leanings I was nothing but disappointed with his presidency and the overall direction of the Democratic party. I disagree with a lot of their policies, but I do not want to see them going further left (unless they want to be honest about themselves and say, “no, we are an honest, left-wing party”) or in ruin over the next four years. I want to see the Democrats be an honest, loyal opposition – not blatantly political and opportunistic.

American politics (indeed all politics) is about compromise. Not 90 per cent in my favour compromise; a win-some-lose-some compromise.

Similarly, going forward, I am going to give Donald Trump the benefit of doubt. I do feel hopeful about the future for the first time in 8 years, but not by much. I also realise there are millions of people who disagree with my views and are as in shock as I have been the past 8 years. I sympathise, and I hope everyone can go forward and work together for a better tomorrow.

To paraphrase Kennedy, the problems of the world are manmade and can only be fixed by us working together.